Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Valentine's Day Chocolate Raspberry Mousse Cake

For days I have anxiously waited to take a bite of this triple layer cake and savour the wonderful marriage of raspberry and chocolate flavors. Why on earth did I wait days, you might wonder, when this cake can certainly be created and ready to eat in one afternoon? Well I had a series of mishaps that turned my yearning to eat cake into a frenzy of desire. It all started four days ago. I successfully baked the first layer of the cake and set it aside to cool. An hour later I went to take a picture of the cooled cake and I bumped my camera and it went crashing to the floor. Nervously I looked through the viewfinder and saw a hazy purple image of my cake. Thinking I had to go buy a new camera, which I couldn't do for a few days, I froze the cake to finish it later.

Two days later my husband picked up the camera to see what was wrong, and it seemed to be working fine. Go figure. So I pulled the cake out of the freezer and started to make the chocolate mousse. I wanted to get pictures of each step of my recipe and I tried to hold my camera in one hand while using my other to fold whipped cream into melted chocolate. I struggled and took too long. My mousse wasn't light and fluffy as it should be. It had little bits of hardened chocolate throughout. Certainly not the mousse I wanted to have in my cake. I poured the rejected mousse into a bowl, which my husband happily took off my hands. He was just as anxious to sink his teeth into the triple layer cake as I was, but was pacified for the time being. I was able to make a perfect batch of chocolate mousse, layer it on top of the cake, take pictures, and get it in the refrigerator before heading off to the pool (had to get my exercise in knowing how many calories I would soon be consuming). I rushed home, whipped up the raspberry mousse, and shot some photos just before the sun went down. I've been trying to use natural light to take my pictures, so I decided to wait to shoot the final photographs until the next day although my mouth was sure watering by this point. Licking the spoon would have to suffice for a little while longer.

I woke up to sun shining brightly in my bedroom, hopped out of bed, and set out to take my pictures. I got the cake from the refrigerator and was elated to see how wonderful it looked. I washed my raspberries and adorned the cake with a heart. It took me a little time to set up my first shot then I grabbed my camera, turned it on, and wanted to cry. A big spot had appeared on the viewfinder which I tried to clean off. That didn't work and it wasn't on the lens either. It must be an internal problem and I couldn't find a solution. O.K., so I had, at that point, relinquished myself to the fact that I would need to purchase a new camera. I could use an upgrade anyway, but my desire to get pictures of this cake had now escalated into obsession. I didn't want to put the cake back in the refrigerator and run to the electronics store, so I aimed my broken camera at the beautiful cake trying to keep the big spot off to one side. I got a few descent shots and decided they would have to do.

My next step was to get a perfect slice of cake to photograph. I thought this would be very simple. Oh, wrong again. I got a sharp knife warm by running it under hot water and made two very clean cuts. I went to lift the cake out of the pan, but couldn't get under the cake. I had forgotten to turn the base of my springform pan upside down and the lip was a 1/4" deep. There was no way to lift a slice neatly out of the pan base keeping the remaining cake intact. As my impatience grew, I decided to forgo having a nice shot of the slice of cake in front of the whole cake. A beautiful shot of a single slice would be fine. Not worrying about how the whole cake would look, I heartlessly cut it in half and scooped out one side. I needed to be able to get a spatula under the other half of the cake in order to remove it cleanly from the pan's base. It took some effort, but I finally got a beautiful slice of cake for my photograph. At this point though, I was so frustrated that I grabbed a spoon and dug into the mutilated portion of the cake. Yes, I know it was still morning, but hey, the cake has eggs, dairy, and fruit in it. Wouldn't that be considered an acceptable breakfast? Oh, as I put the first spoonful in my mouth, I let out a big sigh. My taste buds were so very happy. The waiting had come to an end. With each perfect bite I could taste the rich gooey flourless chocolate cake, the silky smooth chocolate mousse, and the lightly fruity white chocolate raspberry mousse. I stood in the middle of my kitchen eating joyously forgetting the stress of it all. When I had my fill and had licked my spoon clean, I grabbed my camera and got back to the work at hand. I finally got a perfect shot of a slice of this decadent cake. One good picture was enough to make me happy. What do you think, don't you just want to reach in your monitor and grab a slice for yourself?

I'm sure your experience making this dessert will go much more smoothly, at least I hope so. I will admit, that even without all of my mishaps, this recipe is challenging. Each layer of this cake uses different techniques and requires time and effort. It is also not a budget recipe, by any means. You'll use almost 2 pounds of chocolate, 2 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream, and 1 1/2 pounds of raspberries. However, I assure you it is worth every penny and every minute of time spent. Each layer of this cake is delicious all on it's own, so if you don't want to create the cake, just make one of the three recipes. Your mouth will definitely thank you!

I made my cake in a heart shaped springform pan,but realize that most people don't own one. Just make your cake in a 9" round springform pan and arrange the raspberries on top of your cake in a heart if you are serving the cake on Valentine's Day. For other occasions, you can alternately top it with whipped cream or shaved chocolates for a beautiful effect. Also, I have a fondness for Peter's Burgundy Semi-Sweet Chocolate, which I use in all my chocolate recipes. If you prefer a more intense and bitter chocolate flavor swap bittersweet chocolate for the semi-sweet. Use chocolate that you enjoy eating out of hand, as you will definitely taste a poor chocolate in this recipe.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare a 9" springform pan or heart shaped springform pan by removing and turning the base upside down, setting it inside the ring, and clamping the pan. Generously grease the sides and base of the pan with butter.

Place chocolate and butter in a large heatproof bowl. Prepare a double boiler by filling a saucepan with 1" of water and setting it over low heat on the stove. Set the chocolate filled bowl over the pan and allow the chocolate and butter to melt slowly, stirring often. Remove melted chocolate from stove top and allow to cool for about 5 minutes. Stir in the vanilla and egg yolks.

Whisk egg whites and salt until foam forms. Sprinkle in about 1/2 of the brown sugar and whisk until combined. Add the rest of the brown sugar and whisk to soft peaks (pick up the whisk and the eggs should form a peak but flop over.) You can use a stand mixer or handheld mixer for this process if you desire, just don't over beat the eggs or they will become like Styrofoam.

Gently fold 1/3rd of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Fold in remaining egg whites being careful to not deflate the egg whites. Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 15-18 minutes. The cake will have risen, the edges will look set, and the center will spring back when touched. Set aside to cool for one hour. Once cooled, the cake will sink down in the center. NOTE: The toothpick test does not work with this cake. Just follow the instructions above. You can see the top of the cake pictured at right is all one color, there are no wet spots (darker areas.) That is what you'll look for.

Whisk whipping cream to soft peaks. Set aside. Melt the chocolate in a large bowl. Click here for detailed instructions. Pour water and sugar in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil over medium heat. Stir until the sugar is dissolved creating a simple syrup. Whisk egg yolks in a medium bowl. Continue to whisk while slowly adding a small amount of simple syrup. Slowly drizzle in the remaining simple syrup continually whisking. Combine eggs with melted chocolate, stirring until well incorporated. Heat chocolate mixture in the microwave for 15 seconds then stir. Add one third of the whipped cream and whisk until well incorporated. Gently fold in the remaining whipped cream until fluffy. Pour mousse over the chocolate cake layer. Spread evenly over top then refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes.

Pour water into a small bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over top and set aside for 5 minutes to bloom. Pour frozen raspberries into the bowl of a food processor and puree. Pour puree into a fine mesh strainer set over a bowl. Allow the raspberry juice to drip into the bowl. Press on the solids to get as much juice out of the puree as possible. Discard solids. Pour raspberry juice into a small saucepan. Add sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Continue to boil, stirring often until the juice reduces to 1/2 cup, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add the bloomed gelatin. Stir until the gelatin is dissolved. Put chopped white chocolate into a large bowl. Pour hot juice over chocolate. Allow to sit for 3 minutes. Stir until melted and smooth.

Whisk cream to soft peaks. Whisk 1/3rd of the whipped cream into the white chocolate mixture. Gently fold in the remaining whipped cream until light and fluffy. Pour over the chocolate mousse layer and spread evenly. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Remove from refrigerator. Run a thin knife or offset spatula around the edge of the pan. Release the latch on the pan and carefully remove the metal ring from the cake. Set on a cake stand. (I usually put a dab of frosting or something on the plate to hold the cake in place.) Arrange raspberries in a heart on top of the cake just before serving.

Cake (without raspberry garnish) will keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Keep in a cake dome to keep refrigerator smells out. Serves 8-12.

If you like this recipe, please share it with others by using the share buttons below. I really appreciate being Stumbled Upon and Pinned, and am always grateful to those of you that share my ideas on your website. I do request that you don't post my entire tutorial, but rather share a picture with a link. If you make this recipe, I'd love for you to send me a photo to beth@hungryhappenings.com so that I can share it in my Reader's Gallery. I link up to lots of websites that are listed here. Thank you for visiting Hungry Happenings

As with most recipe creations, I took inspiration from a few other recipes. Over the holidays I tried out a cake recipe from Cooks Illustrated and I liked certain elements but not others. I made a couple of changes to the bottom cake layer in their recipe including using semi-sweet chocolate instead of bittersweet because I enjoy a sweeter flavored cake. Then I topped that cake with a chocolate mousse recipe that I have been using for many years, that I liked so much better than their version. I learned to make this mousse in a cooking class about 10 years ago and am not sure of it's origin. The chef who taught the class was French, so I assume it is a pretty classic recipe. This mousse is amazing all on it's own. It is velvety smooth, incredibly rich, and full of chocolate flavor. I wanted to round out the recipe with raspberry flavor so I started with a raspberry ganache that I make to fill chocolates, and turned it into a mousse. The combination of all three layers is incredible. I've never made or eaten a cake that I like more. I wouldn't doubt that there are other versions of this recipe out there because the flavor combination is such a classic.

This cake was delicious! I love baking and am always first to put my hand up to make dessert for whatever the occasion. I made this cake was dessert at our father's day lunch yesterday. I can honestly say, it was the best dessert I have ever made!

Hi Anonymous, yes you can use frozen raspberries to make the mousse. I would find something else to top the cake with if you don't have any fresh raspberries as thawed ones don't look quite as nice. You could pipe on some whipped cream or cut a heart stencil and dust some powdered sugar over the stencil. Even some heart shaped chocolates would be nice.

Just finished making the cake! So much work, I'm tired lol and my feet hurt haha. I haven't tried it yet but I can't wait I had some left over raspberries so i made a sauce from them, because I tried the white choc. raspberry mixture and they only one i could taste was the white choc. I don't think I made it correctly, I was running out of time. These are my favorite three flavors together. Glad you posted it I will try AGAIN andd not give up haha. Thanks for posting

Hi kjoy, It is definitely a time consuming cake to make, but wait until you taste it. It is worth the effort. I made this again for Christmas Eve and everyone raved about it. Oh, I think a raspberry sauce drizzled over the cake would be wonderful. I hope you enjoy it and take some pictures to send me to be displayed in the reader's gallery.

Dear Beth,thank you for the fantastic recipe. We totally adore it. I made some changes in the chocolate mousse, because I didn't want to use raw eggs. I used only cream and chocolate. I believe it didn't change the flavour:)You can see my pictures on my blog:http://vkusnoteka.blogspot.com/2012/02/blog-post.htmlI have linked the recipe in Hungryhappenings.Thank you once again.

Hi Beth, I am planning on making this today, but was wondering if I could use the chocolate mousse and the raspberry mousse as layers on shortbread cookies instead of the cake ? I just need something that will travel easy and stay firm. Not too sure if its a great idea, thoughts ? :)Dhana.

I think the mousse would taste great on a shortbread cookie. The only challenge may be in cutting through the cookies depending on how sturdy they are, but the mousse might just soften the cookies enough that they are easy to cut. I'm not sure, but think it would work well. Sorry it's a bit of a wishy washy answer. Let me know how it works out.

Hi Beth, I just made this cake last night for V-day and it was delicious! Thanks for the recipe :) I did have an issue with the simple syrup though - as soon as I would add it to the egg yolks and whisk, some would dissolve but most of the sugar in it would just solidify and become large, hard chunks. I ended up having to fish the chunks out and try again, but the same would happen. Is there a trick to this (I'm not a very experienced cook)? Also noticed that the chocolate mousse layer and the cake layer were the same colour whereas your mousse is a lot lighter in the pictures... not sure why mine turned out that way, but it was still very yummy!

I'm so glad your cake did turn out in the end. This recipe is pretty advanced, and you say you aren't a very experienced cook. Well, I'm impressed that you tackled it and I'm sure everyone you made it for appreciated your efforts. It is a stunning looking cake and tastes so good. As far as having issues with the sugar crystalizing when it hits the eggs, but my best guess is that you cooked the simple syrup too long so it became like hard candy. You just want to bring it to a boil and once the sugar is all dissolved take it off the heat. If it gets too hot it will go from a liquid to a gel to rock hard candy. The reason the chocolate cake and mousse layer can be different or more similar in color will have to do with the chocolate you used. Each has different properties and some are darker than others. I've seen lots of chocolate mousse desserts that are much darker than mine. I'm glad in the end you got it all to work and enjoyed the cake. Happy Valentine's Day.

Thanks, Beth! Yes it still turned out delicious, and you're right - I did heat the syrup for a while, it looked like a lot of liquid to me and for some reason I thought I needed to evaporate it off a bit, so that's where I went wrong. I used a 75% cocoa cooking chocolate, so it was quite dark/rich. I figured it would be different in colour due to the different chocolate, however I was expecting it to end up being lighter in colour than the cake base (as it looks in your pictures) but that was not the case. It still tasted great, I just thought the three colours was a neat look, but it still turned out better than I had anticipated, or expected for my first attempt. Thanks :)

Yep, you were making candy out of your simple syrup. The hot liquid helps to heat the eggs up to a safe temperature and will help sweeten the mousse. If you used chocolate with such high cocoa content, I'm sure your mousse was really dark in color and very rich in taste. The chocolate I use has a much lower cocoa content. If you make it again and want more variety in color, just use a chocolate with lower cocoa content for the mousse. I'm just happy in the end your cake was delicious.

This looks like the dessert in the Truvia commercial, so I tried writing them for the recipe and this is the response I received from them:

Thank you for your email. We regret to let you know that the only recipesthat we have are on our website. What you see on our commercials, is that ofour Advertising Agency hiring a 3rd party to make the delicious desserts inour commercials; therefore, we do not have the recipe. Please continue tovisit our website as we update the recipes to suit the holidays as well.

Thank youTruviaR Customer Service

Isn't that unbelieveable? They are promoting their product with a fake dessert!!!!!

hi i was wonder .. can i use any bottom layer ? like instead of chocolate cake bottom can i make a sugar cookie crust bottom? I knoe it wont come out as thick but will it ruin the mousse or the consistency be different?

Dear Beth,Before I start my comments on the cake I would like to say that this is the first time I have EVER left a comment on an internet blog. I normally just get what I need off a site and 'off I go...'. So for me to leave a comment is a HUGE deal ! The time you have taken on your entire site to add pictures and explain your recipes in such detail definitely deserves the time to leave a comment!My husband just completed his MBA (phew) and I wanted to surprise him with a nice cake. His favourite flavour hands down is raspberry! So... I had been searching a few weeks for a cake recipe that involved raspberries. I saw lots, but the raspberry layer was all too often something that looked suspiciously close to raspberry jam! When I found your recipe I was very happy! I am a fairly experienced cook/baker, but of course I was extra worried about how this cake would turn out... would it fall apart after I released the metal ring... how would it taste? etc. As a finishing touch, I saw your 'graduation cakes' and made one brownie in a small pyrex baking dish, added at the square chocolate 'cap' , made the tassel by hand out of white chocolate and honey and then placed the finished cap on top of the cake. It looked great and it was completely made out of organic ingredients. It is also great that this cake is 'gluten free!'My husband was out of town until yesterday morning so I made the cake on Thursday. We had a small barbecue last night with family and I brought the cake out with one sparkler after dinner. Everyone absolutely LOVED the cake! It was all GONE in no time! My husband also loved the cake, but his only 'complaint' (he is really good at constructive criticism) was that the chocolate 'over powered' the raspberry mousse flavour. I'm not sure what to do about this next time I make the cake. Half the chocolate in the middle section? Use another package of frozen raspberries in the top section? Thoughts? The white chocolate raspberry layer was by far the nicest flavour.In conclusion, I would like to thank you again for posting this lovely recipe on the internet for all to enjoy. VERY generous and gracious of you! Thanks again! Angie

Thanks for taking the time to leave such a nice comment. I am so happy your family enjoyed the cake. This recipe does make a really rich chocolate cake that has a hint of raspberry instead of the other way around. If you would like a more distinct raspberry flavor there are a few things you could do next time; make a raspberry sauce to drizzle over the cake, double the ingredients for the raspberry mousse layer and skip the chocolate mousse layer, or double just the raspberries and cook them down to a thick syrup to intensify the flavor. All three of these will ramp of the raspberry flavor and I'm sure will taste fantastic.

I love that you also made a graduation cap cake. I love that you used the idea but created one large cake out of it. The flourless chocolate cake is a fantastic gluten free dessert and by using honey in your modeling chocolate, you made it a bit healthier too.

If you took any pictures, I'd really enjoy seeing then and sharing them in my reader's gallery.

hi beth i just baked the cake.it took me more then 30 min cook.(when i checked with the toohpick cake wasn't cooked .is it supposeto be like that?so i have to bake for longtime)but finally it cracked.pls help me............i'm making this for a party tommorow

hi beth 'i baked the cake today.but it too long time(about35min) to cook.when i put a toothpick inthe middle it came wet.is it supposed to be like that?when i took the cake out of the oven there were cracks in the cake.pls help me

You definitely baked your cake way too long that's why it cracked. Being this is a flourless cake, it doesn't test done like a traditional cake. It will be wet if you put a toothpick in it. It is a very fudgy moist cake. To tell if it is done, you should press gently in the center of the cake, it should spring back up. You can, if you prefer, put a thermometer in the cake to test if it's done. Once it reaches 140 degrees Fahrenheit, it is ready to come out of the oven.

Thank you much! I made this for Father's Day and it turned out AMAZING!! I'm 15 years old and I'm very inexperienced in the culinary division, but your directions were absolutely perfect! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Everyone LOVED it! I also used your modeling chocolate recipe to make a beautfil flower n top!

Hi Melissa, I am so happy to hear you had success making this cake. It is a big undertaking and it's great that it turned out so well for you and that your family really enjoyed it. If you snapped any pictures, I'd love to see them and share them in my Reader's Gallery. You can send them to me at beth@hungryhappenings.com

Hi! This is a great recipe! Looks fantastic..Love the texture too!I'm planning to try this one out soon..But I need to know..Can I add on two more layers of chocolate mousse over the raspberry mousse?? Do you reckon the raspberry mousse will hold it's shape while doing so?Also, Can I skip the white chocolate in the raspberry mousse?

Thanks! The raspberry mousse has a pretty good structure, so you should be able to add more layers on top of it. If you eliminate the white chocolate, you wont have as much structure, so you will want to keep it on top. I'd look around the web to find other raspberry mousse recipes instead of just eliminating the chocolate. You may need to change the amounts of ingredients to get it right. Let me know how it turns out.

I've got my cake and first layer of mousse in the fridge. My concern is that my cake took up half of the pan and the mousse the other half. It is full. How should I get that raspberry layer on there? The strange thing is, I was concerned that my pan was too BIG, because it's 9 1/2 inches.

I guess my pan was supposed to be 3" high, but it's only 2". My husband thinks I should wrap aluminum foil around it to create another inch of height, then trim after its set to make it pretty and smooth. Does this seem like a ridiculous idea? If so, what would you do?

Hi Amber, I am so sorry I wasn't around yesterday to answer your questions. I was busy in a conference all day then had a fun filled evening. I hope you took your husbands advice, because it was really a great idea. You can always make a collar using foil to increase the height of your pan. The raspberry layer is just slightly smaller than the chocolate mousse layer, but still it is best to have more than enough room. I sure hope it worked out for you. Be sure to send me a pic- beth[at]hungryhappenings.com

Hi Beth! I did add height with 8 layers of foil in a ring. It was hard, but it turned out beautiful! Although, not as pretty as yours... I garnished it with fresh raspberries stuffed with chocolate chips. Huge hit at my dinner party! Thanks so much for the great recipe. I'll email a picture.

hey beth...i was going to make just the flourless chocolate cake (with the recipe of david lebovitz) with raspberry mousse....i didnt think of adding choccolate mousse as I never made a chocolate mousse successfully before...but while looking for the raspberry mousse recipe I came across ur recipe...and I made the chocolate mousse successfully....so thank u for this recipe :)

although i had one problem, my flourless chocolate cake shrunk quite a bit after cooling...i wasnt getting even thick layer of mousse at the sides... I removed the springform sides and used foil to make mould around the cake to set the mousse coz i didnt want the mousse to dribble over the cake....its still in process so i dont know if the edges of the mousse are going to be as smooth and beautiful as yours....so I wanted to ask you if you too faced this problem??? and can I smoothen the mousse using warm spatula like we do it for cheese cake??

also as I dont use gelatin....so I am going to use another recipe for raspberry mousse...

thanks a ton for the idea of making this triple layer cake...and also for this excellent mousse recipe...as my chocolate mousse turned out very good :)

hey beth...i was going to make just the flourless chocolate cake (with the recipe of david lebovitz) with raspberry mousse....i didnt think of adding choccolate mousse as I never made a chocolate mousse successfully before...but while looking for the raspberry mousse recipe I came across ur recipe...and I made the chocolate mousse successfully....so thank u for this recipe :)

although i had one problem, my flourless chocolate cake shrunk quite a bit after cooling...i wasnt getting even thick layer of mousse at the sides... I removed the springform sides and used foil to make mould around the cake to set the mousse coz i didnt want the mousse to dribble over the cake....its still in process so i dont know if the edges of the mousse are going to be as smooth and beautiful as yours....so I wanted to ask you if you too faced this problem??? and can I smoothen the mousse using warm spatula like we do it for cheese cake??

also as I dont use gelatin....so I am going to use another recipe for raspberry mousse...

thanks a ton for the idea of making this triple layer cake...and also for this excellent mousse recipe...as my chocolate mousse turned out very good :)

Hi, I'm glad the chocolate mousse worked out for you. It is the best mousse I've ever eaten. The cake does shrink in the center once it cools. Mine didn't shrink around the edges making the cake smaller, but I understand what you are saying. I think you made a good decision to add a tin foil band around the edge of the cake. Then when you add the chocolate mousse the layers should look nice. I think any raspberry mousse that isn't too thin will work well as the top layer.

I hope the cake turned out well for you and that you enjoy the flavor and the look of it.

hey beththanks for the wonderful chocolate mousse recipe...this is the first time i made chocolate mousse successfully...

however, the flourless chocolate cake shrunk quite a bit after cooling...so for the mousse i made a mould from the foil...as i didnt want the mousse would not fall over the chocolate cake...I am not sure if the edges will be as clean as yours....I wanted to ask you if I can smoothen the edges with warm spatula like its done for cheese cake...

Hi Judi, half and half wont whip up exactly like heavy whipping cream. You can whip half and half if it is extremely cold, but the end product will not have the same mouth feel or creaminess as the whipped cream which is so important in this recipe.

I made this last night for Valentine's Day. What a bunch of work that was! I am exhausted today, but I pulled it out of the springform pan without a hitch. I think I also put my base the wrong way because I might not have had it the right way to begin with, so I turned an upside-down base upside-down again. Oops. I also had an issue because I did not thaw the frozen raspberries. I didn't see it mentioned in the recipe above, and stupidly thought I could just take them out of the freezer. So I pureed them still, warmed them up in a saucepan, strained them, and then went back to reducing the liquid. If I had tried this years ago, I would have thought I was stuck. Oy.

I will let you know how it is tomorrow. I just wondered though, how did you run a knife along the sides of the cake without smearing the layers on the outside? I'm sure it all tastes the same, but mine doesn't look as neat from the outer edge like yours.

Hi Gil, I understand your exhaustion. This is by far my most time consuming recipe, but I assure you it will be worth the effort. It tastes heavenly. My frozen raspberries pureed in my food processor, but maybe my freezer isn't quite as cold and they weren't rock solid. They can certainly be thawed in advance. I have also just cooked them from frozen then pureed then like you did when making chocolate truffles. I'm happy you were able to solve the problem and move on with the recipe.

I used a very thin offset spatula and ran it around the edge of the pan while the cake was still cold. I didn't seem to have much smearing at all, but I remember once I made this with a white chocolate mousse layer on top and I was in a hurry to bring it to a party, so I removed it too soon from the refrigerator and it did smear a bit. To ensure a nice clean removal, you could put the cake in the freezer for about 30 minutes. That should keep all the layers from blending together.

I hope you enjoy the cake and that you have a wonderful Valentine's Day.

It turned out deliciously! Thanks for the well wishes. I hope your family had a wonderful day. Thanks for the recipe. (BTW, you weren't kidding. If someone asked me to make this for them, I'd have to charge for the ingredients at the very least.)

You can use chocolate chips, but just be aware that chips are made to hold together even at 350 degrees in an oven. They don't melt as nicely as the bars do. Also, just make sure you really like the flavor of your chips as that is what you will taste in the cake.

Yes, you can. I actually just made some chocolate mousse today by just folding in some whipped cream to chocolate ganache. Heat 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream just until it starts to bubble. Stir in 12 ounces chopped chocolate. Whisk 1 cup of heavy whipping cream to stiff peaks. Stir one third of whipped cream into the chocolate mixture (ganache) loosening it up. Fold in remaining whipped cream. Then use like the other mousse in the cake.

Thank you so much for your blog. It sounded just like my husband and family waiting for me to get a photograph, any photograph, before the item is consumed. They wait with their tongues hanging out. I made some cream horns with raspberry, chocolate, and others with some gold sprinkles, and the cream was melting as I was trying to get a photo. They are hemming and hawing, and impatiently waiting. :) Thanks so much for all your ideas. I am still working on RUGBY, not football, food items. I made a full sized Rugby ball in krispie treats and dipped it 3 times in white chocolate but it was still 'lumpy'. I don't want to use fondant. I have tried chocolate clay/modeling chocolate was wasn't successful even the 'professional coaches and pastry teachers" couldn't get it right. Next week is the annual Rugby banquet with over 500 people attending in a Sports Museum for which I will be doing deserts again. I need individual servings, fairly large servings for those very hungry and carnivorous boys and girls. I will try your version of modeling chocolate. I also have a GOLF EVENT coming up in two weeks that I need to make goodies for. Thanks for all your inspiration and your writings. I really appreciate them.

It's been so long since I wrote this blog post, but I still remember this day very well. I recently got a DSLR camera and a little over a week ago, it came crashing down onto my table. The tripod was not set correctly and the camera was just too heavy. I about fell apart. Thankfully my husband was there to calm me down. I thought I lost them both. I ruined my table top, but so far my camera and lens are still working.

I've covered lots of rice krispies treats with chocolate and if I want a smooth finish, I make sure my cereal treats have no holes or dimples. I smash more cereal into all of the holes, trying to get the surface as smooth as possible. It's a lot of work, but eventually it does work.

I'm currently making this (yes in the middle of night ), and it smells heavenly!! But I had/have a few concerns...1rst, when I made the chocolate mousse, it was so liquidy I thought I was going to ruin my cake part (so I stuck it in my freezer for 15 mins and it helped solidify it) and 2nd, when I puréed and strained the raspberries...it came out like pancake batter!! God I pray this doesn't ruin the cake!! I'm secretly making this at midnight to surprise my husband when he wakes up!! Also a little fun tip for anyone making these in the future...if you put fresh raspberries on top...put a white and chocolate chip inside the raspberries!!

The mousse will thicken as it cools, so I'm sure your chocolate mousse layer will be fine. The raspberry puree is pretty much juice, and it's very thin. The addition of gelatin, white chocolate and whipped cream will make a very nice layer of mousse. The gelatin really helps set this layer.

I love your idea of adding a chocolate chip in each raspberry. Great tip! I do hope your cake turns out great and that you get some sleep.

Yes, I'm sure it would be, just be sure the glaze isn't hot when you pour it on or it might melt the top layer a bit. If it's warm, it should be alright. Have fun. I hope your friends love this cake as much as I do.

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